This book was a psychological thriller that was very interesting and I should have seen the twist at the end but I didn't so for me that is good. It revolves around a couple, Claire and Angus who met 4 months ago and quickly got engaged. While house hunting they find one house but then change their minds when they find another house owned by a man named Mark who resembles someone Claire was in love with five years ago named Daniel. The book goes back and forth from five years ago to Claire's relationship with Daniel and his ex girlfriend who continues to stalk him. Other things transpire in this well written novel but the end was terrific with a twist I never saw coming. I want to thank net galley for this ARC I received for an honest review.

Awesome book!! Fast paced thriller! Very intriguing and keeps you guessing to the shocking end! I will definitely pick up other books written by this Author!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to preview this title. However, if I read one more book promotion that says “a psychological thriller with a stunning twist,” I will scream. Come on publicists, say something different. Get a thesaurus.

Rant over. Claire, a lawyer, and Angus, who owns a chain of small hotels, fall in love and get engaged. Before marriage they find the house of their dreams. It belongs to Mark, who looks very much like an old love of Claire’s. Something that Claire can’t get out of her mind. On the road to wedding planning and with Claire’s immigration job, the road is very rocky. Claire does things she’s not proud of. And I’ll leave you there.

The first part of the book was very slow and if it had not been a Netgalley title, I would have given up on it. I also didn’t find much of a stunning twist. All the male characters seem shady from the get-go. If you enjoy tales set in England, you may enjoy this. But I fit right along with the average reviewer on Goodreads with three stars. I did like it that Claire smartened up near the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced read in exchange for this review.

Claire and Angus are engaged after four months together.  They are successful and happy.  While looking at houses, Claire sees a man that reminds her of her past love.  She finds herself drawn to him.

This book is bad.  The story is a mess.  It is hard to follow.  Claire and Angus (and mystery man) are all unlikable  and do horrible things.  I finished it, so there's that.

Very fast paced and interesting read. Definitely a thriller I would recommend. There were some parts that were unbelievable but overall the book is different then a lot of the unreliable narrator reads currently out there. I don't find the protagonist Claire very likeable but compared to most of the other people featured in the book aside from Claire's family and Agatha the rest of the cast of characters are downright despicable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

SO creepy but good!! I instantly was hooked when I started reading this novel. I love these type of story lines and the characters came to life on the pages! I cannot wait to read more from Sarah Mitchell. Go ahead and read this one ASAP!

Thank you #NetGalley and #Bookouture for the ARC

Claire has never gotten over her ex boyfriend Daniel. She meets Angus, he runs a chain of boutique hotels, Claire works for the government in the immigration department. They are sort of an odd match but get engaged rather quickly.

They buy a house from a man named Mark who just so happens to have a huge resemblance to Claire's ex boyfriend Daniel. Claire finds herself very attracted to Mark, let the trouble and twists and turns begin. I was shocked as some of the secrets of the characters were revealed. A definite page turner.

Both the blurb and title which intrigued me are misleading. It is called 'The Couple', what couple? We learn very little about Angus and Claire seems to know very little about him too. 'Claire, a lawyer,'says the blurb but she admits herself that she is not.
Although I soon discovered that the novel didn't reflect the cover, blurb or title, I finished it. It was heavy going at times, partly because of the unlikeable characters, the unlikely plot and an unreliable narrator but also the repetitive language . Overuse of certain words grated and took me out of the story - in the space of this novel, the author used 'brackish' to describe coffee, a hallway and lips. The office and court sections were dull to read and the whole thing could do with a good edit
It's not often that I have to re-read sections of a book but the twist in 'The Couple' is so obscurely signposted that I felt I had missed something. It turns out that I hadn't. It was just an unsubtle twist that of course the reader wouldn't see coming and,because it was badly executed, it felt a bit patronising. No spoiler but this 'fooled you, Babe!' revelation almost put me off finishing.

It took me a while to get into this book as there was a lot going on but when I did I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this book.

Whatever you think you know...you are wrong. This is what the book cover says and that is the truth! I’m very conflicted about this book. I think the plot has a couple of surprising twists at the end but unfortunately I do not think they are executed very well. Instead of surprising you they confuse you, make you re-read and wonder if you misunderstood. Chapter 24 conflicts everything we’ve read before. I don’t know if it’s a mistake or a twist to be honest. What makes me believe that it’s a twist is that it has been alluded a couple of times in the book that Claire maybe uncomfortable with her brother’s wife’s pregnancy. Why would that be the case if Chapter 24 is a mistake and not a twist? Also the ending, where we read what Claire thinks when she sees Jamie makes me feel like chapter 24 is the twist. However, the conversation in chapter 8 contradicts the twist in chapter 24 or maybe this is a smokescreen to confuse the reader. I think the conversation in chapter 8 or Claire’s interactions with her family could have been written so as to not conflict with the twist- the execution of the twist made me rate the book lower than I would have otherwise.
In terms of writing style, there are too many unnecessary adjectives that don’t really help build a better picture. The character development is not great. We don’t really know if Angus is a bad guy or not. He seems controlling but there isn’t enough about Angus’ character for the reader to make up their mind about him. Their whirlwind romance is not well described. Mark is shady from the start. I don’t understand why Claire has to lie to Angus when she goes to meet Mark to buy the antique mirror (another unexplained gap). Claire’s character too is all gray, you don’t know if she’s reliable or not. Some information about her cases keep dropping in but they do not add much to the plot, they don’t even help the reader build a better image of Claire.
Overall the characters of this plot are not likeable, in fact they are easily forgettable. When I stopped reading for a few hours and returned to this book it took me a few mins to recollect and relate to the characters agin. Picking up where I left off from was not easy because I did not feel very involved in the book.
My final gripe is with the title- nothing in this book focuses on one couple, it’s Claire’s story with 3 different men in her life so I don’t think the title is apt.
I’ve truly struggled with rating this book. I like the twist but when I think back it does nothing for the plot. Is it surprising- yes, but does it change anything - Nope!
I’ve been generous with my rating because the concept was a good one, there was a lot of potential in it but it certainly needed better execution. When I started this book I was hopeful and I’d love to rate it higher but after a lot of consideration I do not think that I could justify it if I rated this any higher than a 3.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley, #TheCouple

Also shared on: https://romasharma.blogspot.com

Whatever you think you know…You’re Wrong

“The Couple” by Sarah Mitchell is a psychological thriller that tells the story of Claire, an immigration lawyer, and her engagement to Angus. The story flips between present and five years ago to her college relationship with Daniel, and her obsession with him.

After a whirlwind relationship, Claire and Angus purchase a house from a man named Mark, who looks like an older version of Daniel. Claire begins to become infatuated with Mark which causes her to get involved in something she shouldn’t.

There were a couple of twists along the way, but the story felt disjointed at times with too much going on. I couldn’t understand why the author was focusing on Claire’s immigration cases although later on in the book it makes more sense. Going back and forth from present day to five years ago was also confusing. It just didn’t feel necessary to the story of Claire, Angus, and Mark even after figuring out the “big” twist.

I really love a good thriller, but this just wasn’t it for me. I wanted to like it and kept reading in hopes I would, but the author’s writing style just wasn’t for me. The "big" twist just made no sense because it changed the author's story in an unnecessary way.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was a lot going on in this book, which made it hard to concentrate sometimes, but the twists and turns certainly kept me on my toes! If you are looking for a different, twisted thriller, this is for you!

A great story line with brilliant main characters.. I read this book in one sitting as I couldn't put it down.

This was a pretty good read for me , it kept me hooked and I read it in record time . I did feel myself getting cross at the sheer stupidity of Claire , but then remind myself its fiction . Claire is engaged to Angus an affluent hotel owner , when they go to view a house the owner reminds Claire of Daniel her first love . She can't deny the attraction and quickly gets in over her head . I felt she was pretty naïve and some of the things she does just didn't seem credible . That being said it was pacey , entertaining and a real page turner . A solid 4 stars from me . My only criticism is that the back story set in the past wrapped up a little too quickly with a few unanswered questions .Would recommend .

Good grief, I don't know what to start with here. There was just too much going on. It didn't help that the author jumped back to the present and then 5 years before every every chapter. We are following our main character Claire's current engagement to a man named Angus and then her university romance with a guy named Dan. If you wanted to know about either guy, there's not much there. We just know that Clarie is still obsessing over Dan and where things went wrong, apparently went into a funk after the relationship ended and seems to be ambivalent (at best) about Angus. Things go to the weird where quickly where Claire meets a man who reminds her of Dan. And then it's just Claire running to and fro looking into something that made a little bit of sense at the end of the book.

"The Couple" starts with Claire's engagement party to a man named Angus. Her family is pretty relieved that she has moved on from someone named Dan. FYI, it takes a while to even get to Dan and why Claire was so hung up on him. Claire works for the Home Office and deals with immigrant cases. We know she has a mother, stepfather, and brother, but she doesn't talk to them much, she is just telling you about them. Same with Angus. I didn't get a good sense of him via Claire. Same issue with Claire obsessing about the man she meets (Mark) and her former boyfriend (Dan). She just runs around and says, well this person reminds me of Dan and I am now going to just run around and force this person to be with me, when I am not hiding it from my fiancee and trying to make things work there. This book was confusing. At least Mitchell didn't do the unreliable narrator thing (which I loathe). I think the big issue is that Claire is written inconsistently in this book. I don't know what she really wanted in the end. And then all of a sudden we get some huge reveal about things and I maybe squawked plot hole a few dozen times and let it go.

The men were a mess in this book. We don't spend much time with anyone but the perfect Dan and good lord I didn't get it. You have to make him some big perfect love. Or something. Mitchell messes with his halo a bit, but then we don't get to see how things ended. We just get comments here and there and the rest is left to you to imagine.

The writing feels really disconnected at times. Claire works at the Home Office and apparently deals with immigrant cases. Anytime Mitchell goes into whatever case Claire is working on the book gets odd. You have the idea that maybe Claire looks down on these people at times, or she doesn't really care (which I still say she doesn't) and all these cases just hang in the book. The flow is impacted by going from the present to five years ago. I just ceased to give a crap about Dan. Claire's obsession with him and his dealing with his ex got old fast. She was just a mess as the ex was in my opinion. That opinion isn't helped by the fact that though Mitchell over explains everything in this book, she decides to keep what happened to Dan vague. I mean you can guess what happened, but I wish that the rest of the book was more like that in order for it to really hit you.

The book's setting is mostly Angus and Clarie's home with Claire occasionally going out to stalk Mark somewhere else.

The book ends in a whimper.

This is one of those books I almost can’t review for fear of giving anything away!

This book fooled me – it really got me good. The cover of the book says “Whatever you think you know… You’re Wrong”. NO KIDDING!

First, to those that are giving this bad reviews, I am presuming that at least some of you didn’t catch the shift in the narrative at the end – the big clue that let you know what just happened. Because if you missed it the book will make absolutely zero sense to you. If you did catch the shift in the narrative… YEAH! You were rewarded with a stunning reveal and a big gasp and an appreciation of an awesome gotcha moment. I haven’t read a book with such an awesome “GOTCHA” moment in a long, long time. Brilliant! Seriously, don’t ignore this book just because others didn’t get it. I highly recommend you give it a chance.

This book was full of twists and turns and intrigue and a whole lot of HUH? Some of that “huh?” for me came in the absolutely mind-numbingly stupid decisions Claire was making. She’s newly engaged but slips immediately into an affair with Mark because he resembles an old boyfriend? Claire also does things for Mark that are completely insane, including some things that put her and/or her job at risk, and yet she never questions why he wants her to do these things. She was coming off as a ridiculously stupid character and I was getting super frustrated with her in general. But remember that gotcha moment I mentioned above?? All of this makes sense in the end.

The book is told in a dual timeline. The past narrative is the story of Claire’s ex-boyfriend Daniel and what happened between them. The present narrative is the story of Claire’s current life. The dual timeline narrative is what makes this book come together so brilliantly.

Full disclosure, I almost gave up reading this book after just the first few pages. The run-on sentences and excessive use of commas and semi-colons was distracting and almost unreadable. It is possible the editing wasn’t completed in the ARC I was reading, but goodness sakes some periods would have been prudent. However, I am unbelievably glad I plowed through because the writing started to flow much better as the story developed and it was so worth it!

Seriously, the psychology of Claire would be a great topic for a master thesis!

I highly recommend this book! Awesome psychological thriller that is worth the effort.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for a free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Expected publication date February 5, 2019 by Bookouture.

NOTE: I've got a spoiler (hidden) included in my review posted on Goodreads. I couldn't figure out how to hide spoilers here so I am providing my Goodreads review link if you are interested:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2669893056?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Such a twisty roller coaster ride! That tag line - 'Whatever you think you know...' is spot on.

This book follows Claire, a immigration paralegal of sorts. We first meet Claire at her engagement party for her and her rich new fiance, Angus. We find out almost right away that Claire is hiding something. Something big enough to cause her family to treat her with kid gloves and big enough to keep quiet from her new man. We know this secret has something to do with a past love named Daniel. As the story progresses, we find out Claire isn't the only one with secrets.

This book was so well written. I have a uncontrollable urge to solve the mystery before it's revealed and this one threw me many curve balls along the way. I guessed some, was way off on others....but all in all, it was a great read.

Claire is struggling to get over her relationship with ex-boyfriend Daniel when she is introduced to Angus, They immediately hit it off and decide to marry. Angus suggests buying a house from someone named Mark. Claire goes to look at the house and she is immediately attracted to Mark because he resembles Daniel. He calls Clare back to the house on the ruse of buying an antique mirror and chest at which time he gives her a gun to hide. (Again, no explanation and Claire does not question it and she hides it where he tells her to). After they move in, one day Clare returns home and Mark is there in the house. (It seemed rather strange to me that she did not even question why he was in their home, ask for the key and/or call the locksmith). The story goes back and forth between the present and 5 years ago when Claire was in a relationship triangle with Daniel and Julia, someone he was supposedly trying to dump). Claire and Mark begin an affair and this complicates things. I enjoyed this book but everyone was very unlikable and Claire was just plain dumb. It was far-fetched at times and also very confusing at other times. It is a well-written book and overall it is a good read although I felt like there were some things that had not been explained very well and some loose ends left. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this very interesting book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was super crazy, with tons of crazy, head spinning twists and turns. One that definitely grabs your attention from page one and doesn’t let go! Thrilling, chilling, disturbing, and shocking! Whose hiding what, read to find out, you will be surprised!
I will highly recommend, use in a challenge, and buzz it up in Chaptet Chatter Pub!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

I don't know what I was anticipating when I saw the cover of The Couple, but it definitely was not this. I am BLOWN away. I had no idea what the hell was coming. What riveting writing, an insane, movie-like story line, a bad-ass heroine. This was one wild ride and I devoured it all in one sitting. This was my first from Sarah Mitchell and it was so worth the read. It started strong, it stayed strong, and finished strong. I highly recommend this unputdownable thriller.